Improvement in keys for piano-fortes



U. PRATT.

KEYS FOR PIANO-FORTES, m.

No.17Z,48'6 Patented Jan.18,1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE ULYSSES PRATT, OF DEEP EIvEE, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEYS FOR PlANO-FORTES. &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 172,486, dated January 18, 1876; application filed June 23, 1875.

OAsE B.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ULYssEs PRATT, of Deep River, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Keys for Piano Fortes, Organs, and other musical instruments; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawing, which forms part of this specification.

This invention relates to keys for pianofortes, organs, melodeons, and other musical instruments, having a molding at their front ends for the purposeof adding to the richness or handsome appearance of the keys, and thereby contributing to the beauty or symmetry of the instrument. The object of the invention is not only to thus embellish thekey in a neat and substantial manner, but to economize ivory or other expensive stock used as a veneer. The importance of this last-named result Will readily be conceded when it is considered that ivory, which is the usual substance used for veneering such keys for musical instruments as are here referred to, is very costly, and constantly rising in value by reason of its increasing scarcity in proportion to the demand.

My invention consists in a separate molding applied as a veneer or covering to the upper portion of the front end of the key, in combination with an overlapping forward extension of the top veneer and a lower veneer, over or beyond which the said molding overlaps or projects. This construction not only provides for the substantial ornamenting of the key as described, and for the covering of the joints in veneering the key by separate pieces, but by it I am enabled to use scrap, which ordinarily is wasted or of little value, in the formation of the molding at the front end of the key.

Figure l in the drawing represents a view in perspective of a key for musical instruments constructed in accordance with my invention and Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section, upon an enlarged scale, of the forward portion of the same. Fig. 3 is a section of similar character to Fig. 2, illustrating a modification of my invention.

A is the White key of a piano-forte, organ, or other like musical instrument, having its top or face veneer b, which may be made whole or in sections, extended to overlap the front end ofthekey, and to cover the top joint formed by a front upper-end molding, d, which, like the top veneer b, may be made of ivory or other suitable veneering material, and which may be produced from scrap or waste at but little cost. This molding (I may be of any desired profile in its vertical section. The lower portion of the front end of the key has also a veneer or covering, f, of like or other suitable material, applied to it, and has its upper joint covered by the molding d. Said lower front "eneer f may either be plain or in the form of a molding, as desired.

In the modification of my invention shown in Fig. 3, the veneerf is not recessed into the end of the key, as shown in Fig. 2, but is glued onto the flush end of the key, and the overlap of the veneer cl is made by beveling the contiguous edges of the two veneers, as shown at g.

All of these veneers, b, d, and), may be secured to the body of the key in the usual or any suitable manner. They may, it' desired, be of different materials, the one from the other.

By this system of veneering the front end of the key, so that the upper portions of the joints overlap or project over the lower portions, the discoloration, which is almost, it not quite, unavoidable in ivory joints, is effectually concealed from view, and the ornamentation of the front end of the key is made as perfect as if the top veneer and the front molding and veneer were made in a single piece.

I claim- A separate molding, d, applied to the upper portion of the front end of the key, in combination with the overlapping top or face veneer b and a lower front-end veneer, f, over which the said molding d overlaps or projects, substantially as specified.

HENRY T. BROWN, BENJAMIN W. HOFFMAN. 

